Tardis Park
by RandomVictorian
Summary: AU: On an impulse, John Smith spends his money on a block of flats that need fixing up. His best friends Amy and Rory move in to help him, as does a girl named Clara, who he met under awkward circumstances but is becoming more and more attracted to. Domestics and humourous situations ensue. T 'cos I'm paranoid. (Disclaimer: Regrettably, I do not own Doctor Who)
1. Chapter 1

**So this was a request from tumblr user letitrainasunnyday based on a gif-set. I'd post the link but links are rubbish on here since you can't copy/paste.**

**The gif-set is actually supposed to be a university AU thing but there are so many university AU fics that I honestly don't feel that I could add anything original to what's already been done in that department. Instead, I got this idea and ran with it. I'll try to keep it as close as possible to the request. Sorry letitrainasunnyday if this wasn't what you wanted!**

* * *

Amy stepped away from her phone for _ten minutes_ and came back to find forty missed calls from John. Rolling her eyes, she called him.

'AMY!' he shouted. 'Where were you?!'

'Nowhere. My phone was in my bag and I was in a different room. Now what, Doctor, could possibly be so important that you felt the need to call me _forty times_ in ten minutes?'

'the Doctor' was what his close friends had called him for most of his life. When he was a kid, he'd always wanted to be a doctor. He never became one, but the name stuck. It was more distinctive than John Smith.

'Well I'm sort of in need of some help. You know that money my uncle left me? I sort of spent it.'

'All of it?! On what?'

'Are you sitting down?'

She sat down. 'Yes.'

'A block of flats. But not just flats, really bad flats that need a lot of fixing up. There's only two or three that are even liveable.'

'Why on earth would you do a thing like that?!'

'I have no idea!'

'Well, what do you expect me to do about it?'

'Well, you know how you and Rory just got married? And need someplace to live? I was thinking you could live with me in the flats.'

'That's lovely, Doctor, but we couldn't possibly accept -'

'No but you'll be helping me! You can live there in exchange for helping me fix up the flats and get them ready to be moved into! It will be fun!'

'We're not exactly professional...anythings really. We've never done anything like that before! Rory is a nurse and I'm a journalist!'

'They don't need a lot of technical stuff! Just a few do-it-yourself kind of projects. I've read about it, there's nothing that can go wrong! And I'm looking for people to move in and you're my best friends. I'm hoping to get some other people too. If you know of anyone, let me know.'

'What about Clara?'

'Clara?' His voice became a nervous squeak.

'Clara. Clara Oswald. You know Clara!'

Of course he knew Clara. He'd seen her a few times before. The last time he'd seen her had been at a party, and it had been...well, awkward.

'Oh, yes, Clara Oswald,' he said, as though she'd simply slipped from his memory. 'Well I don't think...'

'Oh come on, Doctor. You know she was just fooling around, right? She called me the next day and spent nearly two hours talking about how worried she was that you'd taken it the wrong way. I tried to reassure her, but _then_ she told me how you accidentally pushed her off the balcony and after that, there wasn't really much I could say.'

'She _kissed_ me! And anyway, she fell in the pool. She was okay.'

'You don't push a girl into a pool for kissing you!'

'I was startled! And anyway, that's exactly why I don't want to live in close proximity to her!'

'And it's also exactly why you should. Do you want her to always think of you as that guy who pushed her off of a balcony into a pool because she kissed him?'

'I really don't care.' But he actually kind of did.

'Okay. Fine. BUT, me and Rory won't be moving in until you talk to her.'

'But you need a place to live!'

'Yes, but we aren't that desperate. Think about it. Talk to you later!'

John angrily threw down his mobile and stormed into the kitchen to angrily eat some jammie dodgers. A few minutes later, he heard his mobile ringing again. He picked it up. 'Hello?'

'Hello! I can't find the internet.'

That voice. It was _her._ Clara. His heart started beating faster and he couldn't form words.

'Hello? Someone there? What is this, one of those rubbish automated helplines? What am I supposed to press a button or something? What do I press? What am I supposed to do? Hello!'

'Hello! Sorry. What did you say? Internet?'

'Yes, I'm looking for the internet. Bought a computer and couldn't figure out how to get the internet going on it. I have to give my students some way of contacting me if they need help and I didn't want them to have my phone number, so I decided I'd finally figure out this internet thing.'

'You're a teacher?'

'Yeah, problem?'

'No, it's just...I didn't know that.'

'Well of course you didn't know that! You're just a guy on a helpline!'

She didn't even recognise his voice, he realised.

'Listen, I'm not, this isn't...' He decided he may as well help her. 'Have you tried clicking on the WiFi?'

'Wi...Fi...'

He rolled his eyes and tried not to sigh too audibly. 'Click on the WiFi.'

'Okay...Hang on, your voice is familiar.'

'So it is.'

'I know you! How do I know you?'

'It'll come to you, give it a second.'

He heard an audible gasp. 'It's _you! _You, that bloke who...that bloke from the party.'

'That's me, yes.'

'You're a helpline?'

'No!'

'Then why did Amy...Oh. _Oh._ Oh, I am going to kill her!'

'Wait, Amy gave you this number!'

'Yes! She told me it was a helpline! I'm so sorry. I'll let you get on with your day then!'

'No wait, I may not be a helpline but that doesn't mean I can't help. I mean, if you need the internet so badly for your students...'

'Nah, it's okay, it's not that important right now. Actually, right now I was just going to go on there to try and find a flat.'

'You're looking for a flat?'

'Yeah. I was living with a family as their nanny just temporarily, but now they're getting a new nanny and I got a job teaching so it's time I left.'

'That's perfect! You could move in with me!'

'I'm sorry?!'

'No, wait, I didn't...look after I've explained you'll understand.'

'I bet I will! There's such a thing as too keen you know.'

'Clara, please! Listen, I bought a block of flats - _a block, _got that? As in more than one - and they need a lot of fixing up but I thought if I could get some mates together we could all live in the liveable ones and the rent would be free everyone would just help fix them up a little at a time, until they're all fixed up.'

'I see. So you and I, we wouldn't be sharing a flat?'

'Well no, not exactly I mean probably not. I mean I don't know...'

'What do you mean you don't know?!'

'I haven't been to see them yet. I'm told that two or three are completely liveable but -'

'Hang on, you bought a block of flats without even looking at them?'

'I drove past...'

'What's wrong with you?'

'I don't know! It sounded like a good idea at the time! Anyway, I think there _should_ be one for Amy and Rory, one for me, and one for you and...um...I mean if you had someone you wanted to...'

'No! I'm not...in a relationship.'

'Oh good. I mean not good I mean it's good you're independent I suppose I'm going to shut up.'

She laughed. 'It's a deal.'

'What? You'll agree to move in when you haven't seen them?'

'Hate to sound desperate, but I really need a place to live. And don't criticise me, Mr buys-a-whole-block-of-flats-without-looking-at-them.'

'Good point.'

'Oh! I'll give you my number. You know, since I've got yours now.'

She gave him her number and asked to come by and look at the flats the next day. He said that would be just fine. His heart was still pounding when he hung up. He didn't know why.

He texted Amy, simply: _Clara is going with us tomorrow to see the flats._

Amy called him, unreasonably pleased with the whole thing, he thought.

He got off the phone with Amy and stretched out on his sofa, looking around at all the boxes stacked haphazardly around his flat. He hoped the next day would go okay and that the flats were indeed liveable. Because he hadn't told anyone, but he had to move out of his flat the day after next. He was already all packed up and ready to go, so they'd better be okay. And he hoped Amy and Rory would like them and so he'd have them as neighbours. And a tiny secret part of them hoped Clara would like them so that she wouldn't change her mind.

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**There's more to come! Please leave me reviews!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! Sometime after this is posted I'll probably give this a proper title. **

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It was five o'clock in the morning on a Saturday, and Clara's mobile had been going off constantly with one text after another. She finally reached a sleepy hand out from under her duvet and felt around on her bedside table until she found the phone. She pulled it under the covers with her and opened her texts, trying to make her eyes adjust so that the screen wasn't so blurry.

All of the texts were from John. _Hello! We're going at 10 this morning if that's okay. _

There was another text that said: _Should probably tell you the address. _

And then another text with the address, followed by: _(Sorry, pressed send too soon)_

As she was about to reply to these, she received yet another text that said: _Sorry, this is probably a bit early isn't it?_

She couldn't help but smile. _Sounds great, and yeah, this is really early. I was sleeping._

John: _Oh no! Did I wake you up? _

Clara: _Well, I was sleeping and now I'm texting you so...do you think?_

John: _I'm so sorry! Will you be able to fall back asleep again? Will you be too tired to go later? I feel really bad now. I never get much sleep and I forget other people do. I'm so sorry, I feel terrible now._

Clara: _Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter that much. _

John: _See you at 10 then?_

Clara: _Right, see you then!_

She fell back asleep and slept in until 7:30 when she reluctantly decided to get out of bed. She saw that there was another text on her phone. She must have slept through that. She picked it up and opened it. It was a picture of flowers. From John.

_Here are some flowers because I feel bad for waking you up. Hope you sleep well._

This was the same guy who pushed her off that balcony, right? Because she kind of hated that guy, but this guy who was texting her was really ridiculously sweet.

* * *

She got there a few minutes before 10. She was always a bit too early for things - she prefered that to being late. John was already there, standing excitedly by the rusted gates, and when he saw her drive up on her motorbike, he ran over to her and greeted her excitedly.

'Sorry I'm a bit early,' she said, shaking her hair out of her helmet. 'Amy and Rory here yet?'

'No, but I'm glad you're here!'

She hadn't seen him in person for a really long time. She'd forgotten how strange he was...and yet oddly attractive. 'Why are you all dressed up?'

'What, the bowtie?' He straightened it. 'Because bowties are cool.'

'Oh. Is that how you dress all the time?'

'Yes.'

'Okay.'

'Do you always where little dresses like that? And heels to try and look taller?'

'Hey!' But she had to admit, it was fair enough. 'When do you think the others are going to be here?'

'Oh, probably pretty soon.'

* * *

'Amy! Do I have anymore clean socks?'

'Did you check everywhere?' Her voice was slightly muffled because her head was in the far reaches of her wardrobe, hunting amongst the shoes which were in haphazard piles for the match to the one she was wearing.

'Yes!'

'Under the bed?'

'No...Is that a likely place to find clean socks?'

'It depends.'

'Okay, I'll check.'

They were going to be running late.

* * *

John tapped his foot impatiently and glanced at his watch for the thousandth time. 'Almost twenty minutes after ten,' he mumbled.

'Well, you could always just start showing me around until they show up.'

'Sounds good. Follow me.'

Clara had to walk briskly to keep up with his long strides. 'How many buildings are there?'

'Oh, well. Let's count them, shall we?'

'You don't know?'

'Not exactly. I'm sure it was mentioned at some point but...'

'You are insane, you know that?'

'I've been informed of it.'

She shook her head.

'Four.'

'I'm sorry?'

'Four. There are four buildings. I just counted.'

'Oh.'

'Here we are, building A. This was the one with the liveable flats if I remember correctly.'

'Nice they're in the same building.'

'The person who owned them before me also bought them to fix up. He didn't get very far though.'

'I see. They must have been like this for a long time then?'

'Probably. So, here's flat A1.' He opened the door and held it for Clara.

She walked past him and wrinkled her nose. 'It's got that empty flat smell.'

He inhaled deeply. 'It does,' he agreed.

'Candles'll take care of that.'

He nodded.

'Shall we look around?'

'Sure.'

They were standing in a lounge area. The walls were papered with a bland pattern and the floor was carpeted.

'Carpets will need cleaning,' she remarked. 'I think they're the source of that smell.'

'Want to see the kitchen? It's just through there.'

She followed him into the kitchen, which was through by a doorway to the right. The floor was lino and the cupboards were newish but nothing special. The appliances looked like they'd work okay. 'I think this will all do,' Clara said, nodding her approval.

He went over to a door and opened it. 'This leads to a toilet.'

She peered in around him and nodded.

'And...' he left the kitchen and walked through the lounge to where there were more doors. 'Bathroom.'

She stepped inside. 'It's nice. Not crazy about this colour choice for the walls, but nothing a little paint can't fix...that guy who sold these to you didn't have much taste at all.'

'Oi! There is nothing wrong with salmon.' He continued his inspection. 'Come see the bedroom.'

'Bit keen, aren't we?' she teased, walking past him as he blushed and stammered. It wasn't big but it was bigger than she expected. 'Yes, this is quite nice. And this paper on the walls isn't bad.'

'Well, that's all then! The complete tour.'

'Can we see the others now?'

'If you want to, but they're probably all more or less the same.'

'Whose is this one, then?'

'I don't know. Could be mine, yours, or the Ponds'. Whoever wants it.'

'Ponds?'

'Yes, the Ponds. Amy and Rory Pond.'

'Their last name is Williams.'

He stared at her as though she was speaking a different language.

'You know, Amy was a Pond, but then she married Rory who was a Williams, so she has his last name now.'

He shook his head. 'That can't be right.'

'That's the way it works, at least, traditionally.'

'Well maybe they don't follow that tradition.'

'They do. They call themselves the Williamses.'

'That's ridiculous! I've always called them the Ponds and they don't correct me!'

'Well maybe they know this is how you'll react so they let it go.'

'You know sometimes you can be just the slightest bit...'

'What?' Her eyes challenged him.

'_Impossible!'_

She shrugged. 'That's why you like me.'

'Who says I like you?'

'That party. Two months ago.'

'You kissed me!'

'You blushed.' She considered that a moment. 'And then pushed me into the pool. Which is kind of mixed signals but...You were certainly keen to have me move in here.'

'It's a business venture!'

'Whatever you say, Chin Boy.'

'Chin Boy?!'

'Well, you do have a bit of a chin.'

'What's wrong with my chin?'

'Careful dear, you'll put someone's eye out.'

'You know I have had quite enough of -'

'Hello! anyone here?' It was Amy's voice. Moments later, she and Rory were standing in the bedroom doorway, eyeing the couple before them. 'Are we interrupting something?'

'No! No, we were just...' He straightened his bowtie and cleared his throat. 'I was showing Clara the flats. Since you two were taking a while.'

'Whose is this one?'

'We haven't decided yet.'

'Well, let's see the others and then we can decide.'

They toured the next two flats. Clara liked 2 much better than she had liked 1, and the Ponds (he was going to keep calling them the Ponds no matter what silly rubbish Clara told him) preferred 3 because it had an extra bedroom. ('Which, you know...might come in handy...' Rory had said). So the Doctor decided to go with 1. Those were the three that were fixed up. They peeked in the rest of the ones in building A and they all needed a lot of work.

'Okay, well, I guess we can all move in as soon as possible,' the Doctor said.

'Might take Rory and I a week or so,' Amy said. 'We're not exactly ready to move yet.'

'I could move out tomorrow if I wanted to,' Clara said. 'I might need some help moving though because I don't think I can get all my stuff on my motorbike very well.'

'Tell you what,' the Doctor said, 'I'm moving out today. I have everything packed, I just need some help loading boxes and stuff...you know, it's quicker with more than one person. How about you help me today and tomorrow I help you?'

'That sounds perfect.'

'Oh, and you two could help as well,' he said, turning to the Ponds, remembering that Clara was not the only person in the room. It puzzled him that he actually had to remember that. What was this girl doing to him?

'Oh no, you two go on ahead. We're very busy, aren't we, Rory?'

'Very, very busy.'

'So we'll be on our way then, have fun you two!' They hastily left.

Clara sighed. 'You realise they really want us together, right?'

'Do they? I hadn't noticed,' he lied. 'So, we can take my car to my place, then I'll drop you back here afterward for your motorbike?'

'Sounds good to me, Chin Boy.'

* * *

She squinted at a box on which he had scrawled 'handle very carefully.'

'Should I put this right here, so it won't move about as you're driving?' She pointed to a secure spot between two other boxes.

'That would work, yes.'

She got ready to lift the box, expecting it to be at least a little heavy, assuming it contained dishes or electronics or something. Instead, it was almost weightless. 'What's in here, anyway?' She put it back down and opened it up. She rolled her eyes. 'Your bowties are to be handled very carefully?'

'Oi! They're important to me.'

She noticed something else in the box. 'What's this?' She pulled it out and put it on her head. 'I'm John Smith and I like to wear weird hats!'

He hastily snatched it from her head and cradled it protectively. 'That's not a silly hat! It's a fez!'

'Same thing, isn't it?'

'Look, if you're going to insult my things...'

'No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't do that.' She finished helping him move without any more commentary, and then they got into the car to drive to the flats.

'I've been thinking about it,' Clara said after a few moments of silence. 'And I think the flats should have a great name. You know, something you can put on the gate that would sound really nice. Something with class, you know?'

'Ah yes, a name.' He concentrated a moment. 'How about...TARDIS?'

'What does that even mean?'

'The Amazing Residence of Distinguished Individuals of Society.'

'No offense, but that's rubbish.'

'You said it should have class!'

'Class, yes. Whatever that is, no. I kind of like the sound of that though. TARDIS. Just think it should stand for something else.'

'The Awe-inspiring Residence -'

'Awe-inspiring? Come on, it's great to aim high but I don't think any flats ever attain to the level of being "awe-inspiring."'

'Okay...um...The Awesome Residence of Determined International Spies!'

'Are you being serious?'

'Not entirely, but that does sound really cool.'

'Moving on.'

'Maybe it won't stand for anything then. It can just be Tardis.'

'Tardis something though...'

'Tardis estates?'

'Bit high-flown.'

'Tardis flats?'

'More colour.'

'Tardis park?'

'Tardis Park...I kind of like that.'

They pulled up in front of his flat and unloaded the boxes.

'Need anything else?'

'No, I don't think so. I mean, we didn't get much of the furniture so I'll go back for that later but I can figure that out on my own.'

'Nonsense, I don't have a whole lot to do this evening. I'll help. No one should move furniture alone.'

'But you're so small!'

'Still better than trying to do it yourself.'

It took two trips before all the furniture was at his flat, and they weren't sure the means they employed to get it there were always entirely safe, but in the end, they'd managed to move all of his belongings with just his small car.

'Well, that's everything then!' Clara said happily. 'See you tomorrow!' She turned to go to her motorbike.

'Wait! It's getting dark.'

She halted in the midst of putting on her helmet. 'So?'

'So...it's a bit dangerous.'

'I'll be fine.'

'No, I'll give you a ride home. I'll put your bike in one of the really bad flats. I'll have to pick you up in the morning anyway so that we can move your stuff. If anything it will be more convenient.'

He dropped her at home and told her he'd be there at eleven the next morning. She greeted the Maitlands - the family she lived with - and then hummed her way up stairs, closing her door and then breaking into a silly grin.

Her weird giddy feeling was kind of interrupted by the fact that she'd have to be all packed by eleven the next morning.

She went downstairs to make herself a cup of coffee. She was going to be up most of the night.

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**Ending it here because this was an insanely long chapter. Please leave me reviews!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

* * *

Clara woke up at four in the morning to some very strange and loud noises overhead. It was her first time sleeping in her new flat, and this was not the way she wanted the morning to go. She tried blocking out the noises with pillows, but suffocating wasn't pleasant either. Finally, she jumped out of bed, snatched up her dressing gown which she hastily threw on and loosely tied, and eyed her shoes for a moment before deciding this was too urgent and they would take too long to put on.

She regretted the mad decision to go out barefoot as the cold nipped at her feet and ankles. Shivering, she hurried upstairs to the flat the noise was coming from. The door was ajar so she didn't bother to knock, just stormed inside.

Scattered around were all manner of tools, and in the centre of it all sat John, who was holding a nail gun, pointed at his eye, mere centimetres away. She gasped and snatched the heavy tool from him before he even noticed that she was there. He looked up in surprise at the woman before him with the messy brown hair, angry eyes, and disarrayed dressing gown and nightie.

'Oh, good morning Clara! Did you come to help?'

'Help?!' She spat the word out with contempt. 'Do you know what time it is?'

He glanced at his watch. '4:30. Don't you have a clock?'

'Of course I have a clock! I'm just saying this is really early to be making so much noise.'

'Well I thought I'd get an early start.'

'What is all that noise anyway?'

'Well it depends which noise you mean. This,' he took the nail gun from her hand and shot a couple of nails into the board in front of him, 'is a nail gun. And that,' he pointed at a noisy machine that was connected to the gun with a small hose, 'is a air compressor. And I was trying out this drill I got so you may have heard this too.' He demonstrated by drilling into the board that he had put nails in.

'Look, I don't know what you do, but I have a job that I have to be at in a few hours. And now, I am going to be exhausted and falling asleep in front of my students by the end of the day.'

'Oh.'

'Oh indeed.'

'I'm sorry.'

'It's fine, I understand you were just trying to get an early start. But maybe you could be less noisy in the mornings?'

'Okay.' He unplugged the air compressor and put away all of the tools. 'Sorry.'

'Not a problem, as long as this is the only time it happens.'

'It won't happen again, I promise you.'

She looked around at the general mess. 'Do you even know what you're doing?'

'Hmm? No, not exactly.'

'Then why don't you hire a professional?'

'Can't afford it,' he said, as though it didn't bother him. But by the way he said it, so quickly, as though eager to change the subject, she could immediately tell that it did.

'Oh.' She didn't want to pry because she knew he didn't want to talk about it.

'So, that's what I've got you lot for!'

'I guess there's a first time for everything. Just don't expect me to do much in the way of actual construction. I can paint I guess, and paper walls, and maybe hold a board in place for someone to nail it. But that's it.'

'Anything you can do will be a big help.'

She yawned. 'Well good night. Or good morning I guess. I'm going to try to sleep for another hour and then I have to get up.'

'Sorry about all this.'

She waved it off. 'You apologise too much. See you later, Chin.'

'Sleep well, Clara.'

She didn't fall back asleep though. She lay in her bed, listening to his footsteps overhead, laughing softly as she heard a thudding noise followed by an 'Ouch!' She knew he was all right because moments later he was walking about again. Then it went quiet upstairs and she wondered whether he had gone back down to his own flat. She guessed he had, and then she dozed off for a bit before her alarm clock woke her.

* * *

Clara sighed happily as she gathered her stuff to leave school for the day. She was very glad to go back to her flat and work on getting herself settled. As she neared the gates, she prepared herself for a lot of noise. John had been hard at work when she'd left, and he said he planned to continue all day.

But when she got off of her motorbike, she realised that everything was completely silent. She shrugged. Must be taking a break. And anyhow, it was none of her business. They were just supposed to be neighbours, she wasn't supposed to care what he was up to as long as he wasn't too noisy about it.

She dropped her satchel just inside the doorway and closed the door behind her, looking around at the boxes. She decided she'd start with the lounge because that was the place everyone would see, and then the kitchen, and then move on from there. She already pretty much had the bathroom stuff unpacked because she'd needed it for getting ready that morning, that was only a matter of organisation. She started moving the boxes into the rooms they were supposed to go in to make things easier. The whole time, she was listening for some sign of John, but there was nothing.

She told herself it didn't matter, and she set about working on the lounge. She didn't have much in the way of furniture for that room. She had a bookcase, a desk, and a small sofa. John had already helped her position them where she wanted them the day before when he helped her move. She opened a box of books and started putting them in the bookcase, still bothered by the silence. Finally, she decided she'd just pop over next door and make some excuse about wanting to move the sofa over a couple of inches.

She knocked on his door. 'Come in!' she heard him say. She cautiously opened the door.

He was lying on a sofa. His flat looked even worse than hers did. When they moved his things in, he said he didn't want to worry about arranging the furniture yet, so the sofa was just sort of diagonal to the door in the middle of the room. He smiled. 'Hello, Clara! Good day at school?'

'What have you done?'

'What do you mean what have I done?'

'Why are you lying on the sofa? I've only known you for a very short time but I already know you're not the kind of guy who just lays around on a sofa. Ever.'

'Oh, just taking a rest.'

'Stand up.'

'What?'

She put her hands on her hips. 'Prove you're all right. Stand up.'

He carefully stood up. 'Fine, see?' He started to lie back down again.

'Come here.'

'What?'

'Walk towards me. Come on. I don't bite.'

He took a step forward.

'That's it. Keep walking.'

He took a couple more steps, then winced in pain.

'You're not all right! I knew it!'

'No I'm fine! Really!'

'It's your foot, am I right?'

'I may or may not have injured my foot but it's fine and I can deal with it, thank you.'

She walked over to him. 'Let me see.'

'No!'

'Lie down on that sofa and let me see your foot!'

Something in the commanding way she said it made him fling himself back on the sofa.

'Good. Now, which one is it?'

'Poor Leftie.'

She sat down at the end of the sofa where his feet were and took the left one into her lap. 'I'm going to take your sock off.'

'No please don't!'

'Why not? Do you have really ugly feet?'

'No! I have nice feet. I just don't want any help.'

She wasn't going to listen. She pulled off his sock and saw that he had wrapped a make-shift bandage of toilet paper around and around his foot. 'What's this?'

'Nothing. I got a little scratch.'

'Let's have a look at your "little scratch."' She started unwinding the toilet paper and he tried to flee. She held on tightly to his foot and quickly got up and sat back down on his legs. 'Nice try.'

'Oi! Get off me!'

'No!' She finished getting the makeshift bandage off and looked at his foot. There was a nail through the top of it. She gasped.

'You idiot! Were you going to just leave this there?'

'I...was afraid of what they would do to it if I went to a doctor.'

'Well I'll tell you what they'd do. They'd get it out of there!'

'It would hurt.'

'So your plan was to leave it there until it got infected and started oozing pus and stuff everywhere? Because that would hurt pretty bad too.'

'I...didn't think about it like that.'

She sighed. She was going to have to take care of this herself. 'Hold onto something, okay?'

Suddenly, his arms were wrapped tightly around her waist.

She was startled by it. 'What are you doing?!'

'You said hold onto something.'

'Um...right. Okay.' She took a deep breath. Now was not the time for butterflies or silly stuff. 'Now...now close your eyes.'

'Why? What are you going to do?'

'Nothing, just close your eyes.' If he saw what she was doing, he'd freak out and make things difficult.

'Okay...'

She gently held his foot down with one hand while grasping the head of the nail with the other. She wondered if it would be better to do this quickly or slowly? Or maybe she shouldn't do this at all? She wished the Ponds were already living here. Rory would know exactly what to do, and Amy would be able to hold the Doctor down much better than she could alone. She bit her lip and decided to go for it.

She thought quickly would be better because then he wouldn't have time to realise what she was doing. She got it out, but no sooner did she have it out before the Doctor yelped and kicked his legs, sending her flying off the sofa.

'You didn't tell me you were going to do that!'

'And why is that, do you think?' She rubbed the back of her head, which she had hit on the floor in her fall.

'Oh, are you all right?'

She glared at him. 'Let's just finish this and I'll be on my way. Where's your first aid kit?'

'I don't have one.'

'Wow, really? As clumsy as you are, you'd think you'd have a regular hospital going.'

'Shut up!'

'I'll be right back. And I'm warning you, if you move at all I'm going to take this nail and put it right back into your foot, and then I'm going to call an ambulance and have them cart you off and do all sorts of things to you. And I'll know if you moved so much as two centimetres, because I've got a photographic memory. So stay put!'

She was lying, of course. She didn't really have a photographic memory.

She went back to her flat for her first aid kit and returned. She fixed him all up and then told him to just rest for awhile. He complained about the pain so she put some ice on it for him. Then she turned to leave.

'Clara!' he whined.

'What is it?' she said, hand already on the doorknob.

'I'm going to be bored!'

'Not my problem. Sure you can think of ways to entertain yourself.'

'Not when you won't let me move!'

'Well what do you expect me to do then?'

'Stay here?' He looked like a pathetic puppy.

She sighed and found a chair under a pile of boxes, pulling it up next to the sofa. 'Would you like me to read to you?'

'Yes please!'

She had assigned her class a novel to read and she was going to have to read that anyhow, so she got it out and began reading to him. He laid his head back and closed his eyes, and after a while she decided he must be asleep. She stopped reading.

'Please keep going,' he said faintly.

So she did. She read to him for over an hour and then they ended up just talking. He had a lot of funny stories to tell. Suddenly his phone went off.

'Could you fetch that for me?'

She brought it to him, glancing at the screen. 'It's Amy.'

He answered it. 'Hello?...No I'm in my flat...No, I can't. Clara won't let me set foot off the sofa...Yes she's here...I don't know she's being completely unreasonable and -'

'Gimme!' She snatched the phone from him.

'Doctor?'

'This is Clara.'

'Clara? What have you done to him? Why can't he get off the sofa?'

'It's not what I've done to him, it's what he's done to himself. The idiot put a nail through his foot.'

'What?! How did he manage that? Is he okay?'

'I didn't ask. Frankly, I don't really want to know. But yeah, he's okay. I got it out and fixed him all up, but I'm forcing him to rest before he does something else stupid.'

'Oi! Stop talking about me like I'm not here!' John shouted.

Clara could hear bits and pieces of a conversation going on at the other end. Evidentially, Rory had wanted to know what was going on.

'Rory wants to ask a couple of questions, I'm going to put him on the phone.'

Rory asked about the wound and what Clara had done for it. She answered all of his questions as best she could.

'Well, sounds like he'll be fine. He's lucky to have you.'

Clara blushed, turning a bit so the Doctor hopefully wouldn't see. 'It isn't like that! I'm just his neighbour.'

'That's not what Amy has planned for you two.'

She could hear Amy laughing in the background. 'That's it. We're finished now.' She hung up the phone.

'What's going on?' John asked.

'Nothing. Nothing at all. Rory says your foot will be fine. So I'm going home now. See you later, John!'

'Doctor.'

She stopped. 'I'm sorry, what did you say?'

'I said, Doctor. My friends call me the Doctor.'

'Doctor Who?'

'No, just the Doctor. But please, call me the Doctor. I want you to be one of my friends.

_Friends_, he said _friends_, she repeated over and over in her head. But his face was not saying 'friends' at all. She tried to speak as casually as she could. 'All right. Bye, Doctor.'

'Bye, Clara.'

* * *

**Please tell me what you think!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry dears! Started working on an update and then I just wasn't feeling it. So I'll be doing two if my hand doesn't keep doing a weird spasm thing it's started doing that is making it a bit difficult to type. :P I took the idea for this from that new clip which was AMAZING by the way.**

* * *

The Ponds moved in a week later. Clara enjoyed having friends living on either side of her. The only trouble was that the Doctor was at her flat _constantly. _He was always popping in to borrow something or to show her something or tell her something. And as much as she hoped Amy wouldn't notice, Amy noticed.

'So, are you and the Doctor boyfriend and girlfriend then?' Amy asked one day when she'd come over to Clara's for some tea and chatter.

'Shut up.'

'Because if he isn't, then it's really weird how much time he's been spending here. I might have to talk to him about it and wouldn't that just make things awkward.'

'Amy...'

'Come on, Clara. Rory and I agree that you're obviously secretly dating. Just admit it and I'll never mention it again until you're ready to start telling people.'

'Amy we're not dating!' Clara picked up the empty mugs and stormed over to the sink, rinsing them out.

'All right. Well I'll just have to have a talk with the Doctor about spending all his time over here when you're not dating at all.'

'He does _not_ spend all of his time over here!'

'Oh yeah? He eats breakfast here, Clara. And yes, I know about that.'

Clara blushed. 'He had no food in his flat one day and after that it just became a thing.'

'He's your boyfriend.'

'Are you going to stop?'

'Not until you admit it.'

'Fine! He's my boyfriend! He asked me two days ago over breakfast if I would be his girlfriend. We are madly in love and talk of one day getting married and having several kids. How's that?'

'But is it true?'

'Will you keep pestering me forever if I say no?'

'Yes.'

'Fine. It's true. Not the kids thing or the married thing or the madly in love thing. But yeah, he's my boyfriend and I like him well enough.'

Clara's phone rang right then. 'Can you get that?' she asked, because she was busy washing the mugs.

'It's your aunt.'

'Just tell her I'm busy! I'm not in the mood for a four hour conversation!'

Amy answered the phone. 'Hello? No, I'm Amy Williams, her neighbour. No, Clara's busy. What's she doing?' She looked to Clara for help.

'I'm...' The pressure was too great. She knew that almost anything she said, her aunt would say that it could wait.

'She's with her boyfriend.'

Clara gasped and snatched the phone from Amy, giving her a deadly look.

'Hello!'

'Clara dear! I didn't know you had a boyfriend!'

Clara shook her fist at Amy, who waved goodbye and left.

'Yeah...uh...just as of two days ago actually. He asked me over breakfast. We're neighbours.'

'Well isn't that just the sweetest thing! You'll have to introduce us to him! Tell you what? I'll plan a dinner party for the whole family and you can bring him along!'

Yes. Amy was as good as dead.

'Oh...you don't have to do that! In fact, please don't. He's very shy.'

'Nonsense! There's no shyness in this family, he'll soon find!'

_Oh my stars, _Clara thought, _let's hope he doesn't._

'And he'd best learn it,' her aunt continued, 'if he's to join the family eventually.'

Clara almost dropped the phone. '_Join the family?!'_

'Well I should hope so! His intentions are honourable, aren't they? You don't want to end up like your cousin Molly. She _did_ have that baby, did you hear about that? The father's still no where to be found, but what did we tell her? Time and again we told her. And her poor mother so distraught and -'

'His intentions are completely honourable, I promise. It's just, we've only just started dating two days ago so marriage isn't really something we know if we want yet.'

'I understand dear. Bring him to dinner though. I've been writing the guestlist while we talked and it's all planned out so I don't want to hear any excuses. I'll be sending you an invitation so look out for that. Talk to you soon!'

Clara set her phone down shakily. She felt like she was going to be sick. How was she going to explain this to the Doctor? She picked up her phone again and got ready to call him. Best do it quickly as possible before Amy got to him first.

He answered almost immediately. 'Hello!'

'You're my boyfriend,' she blurted out. That wasn't exactly how she'd meant it to go, but then again, maybe getting it over as quickly as possible was the way to do it.

'Really? Okay! When do I start? Should I start today? Would you like to go out for dinner? Or is dinner too formal, should we do lunch tomorrow since it's Saturday and you don't have to work? What does a boyfriend do anyway?'

Clara was stunned by his enthusiasm. She considered just letting him think that he was her boyfriend. It _would_ make him act more convincingly. Of course, it might break his heart later.

'Clara? Are you still there? I'm actually rather excited about this!'

'Um...yes, I'm still here. Listen...'

'Should I read some books or look some things up online? I've never exactly been a boyfriend before -'

'You haven't?!' Okay, now she was feeling very badly.

'Well, no. Not really, no.'

'Oh.' Now she didn't feel like she could break the news that it was fake. She knew that would make things complicated in the long run, but she'd figure that out later. 'I should probably let you know though, that Amy and Rory already know.'

'You told them before you told me? Clara, that's really rude! If this relationship is going to work, you'll have to learn to communicate.'

'Sorry. Oh, and my entire family probably knows by now as well, knowing my aunt. You're invited to dinner so they can meet you.'

'Clara! You shouldn't have told everyone without telling me first!'

'I'm sorry, you're right.' It would be much too hard to explain, so she'd just have to wait for him to forget about it and move on. 'I'll work on communicating.'

'Well I certainly hope so! So, what should we do now? Do you want to go out tonight? Should we go out every night? I guess if I'm your boyfriend we should do kissy stuff. Can I kiss you? I can come over and kiss you to make it all official. I'll come right now!'

All right, time to end this. 'Doctor, wait.'

'What's the matter, Clara my girlfriend?'

She sat down. 'You're not...you're not actually my boyfriend.'

'What? Are you breaking up with me already? You're right. It would never have worked. It was all moving too quickly and look how that turned out for Romeo and Juliet! We should step back and take our time with this.'

'No, I mean you're really not my boyfriend. It's a long story. Why don't you come over and I'll tell you about it.'

* * *

She finished the story with a sigh. 'I'm really, _really _ sorry. I didn't mean for things to get out of hand like this. But can you just pretend, just until the dinner party?'

'Of course I'll pretend!'

'You will? Oh thank you! And you'll go along with my plan? To break up at dinner?'

'Explain again why we have to do that?'

'Because then no one will say anything about it ever again. It will be tied up nice and neat and they'll have seen it happen, and they'll be too afraid of hurting our feelings to bring it up again.'

'Clara, you are a genius!'

'I know. So, you're painting that flat today, aren't you? Need some help?'

'I would love some help.'

'Just one minute while I go change.' She went into her room and put on an old shirt and some ripped jeans. She was really surprised at how well he seemed to be taking all of this. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, then went to join the Doctor.

'Ready to go?' he asked.

She nodded. 'What colour are we painting it?' she asked him as they left her flat and started up the stairs to the one he'd been working on.

'Oh, I thought just plain white.'

They entered the flat and she saw that there was painting stuff already laid out.

'You start with that wall,' he instructed, 'and I'll start with this wall.'

'Okay.' They set to work.

'Ponds should be here,' he said. 'I told them we were painting today.'

'Must be late.' She turned to see how the Doctor's wall was coming along and saw that he was staring at her. 'What're looking at me like that for?'

'Nothing. I was just thinking about doing...this.' He walked towards her and slashed paint across her shirt.

She gasped. 'Well maybe I'll do this!' She swiped her paintbrush across his chin.

'Oi!' He painted down the length of her nose. Pretty soon they were painting all over each other, and laughter and paint filled the room. And then Amy and Rory walked in.

'Are we interrupting something?' Amy asked.

'We could come back later,' Rory added.

'You know, if you're busy being boyfriend and girlfriend.'

'Boyfriend and girlfriend!' the Doctor said excitedly. 'Yes! That's us. Clara's my girlfriend.' He put an arm around her and smiled.

'Please stay,' Clara said, ignoring the Doctor.

'If you say so.' They selected their painting supplies.

Clara took the opportunity to quietly tell the Doctor to tone it down just a bit. He gave her a thumbs up.

They started painting again, and for a few moments, no one said anything.

After a few minutes, Amy said, 'So, when were you planning on telling us, Doctor?'

'Telling you what?'

'About you and Clara.'

'Oh I was going to tell you soon.'

Clara found it infuriating because she couldn't tell if Amy knew the whole thing wasn't true or if she really did believe it.

'We should all go do something tonight,' Amy suggested. 'We can make it a double date.'

'A date? Me and Clara love dates, don't we Clara?'

'Nope, I'm busy tonight.'

'Oh, busy with what?'

'I need to clean my flat and...do some laundry.'

'Well I'm sure that can wait.'

'Would you excuse us for a second?' She grabbed the Doctor and pulled him out of the flat so they could talk privately, closing the door behind them. 'You know you're not my proper boyfriend?'

'Of course I know that! But a fake boyfriend should take you on fake dates!'

'I know, but...'

'What? Are you afraid you might fall in love?'

She was startled to hear him say something so bold, and by the look on his face, he was twice as startled as she was. 'No. Why? Are you?'

'Who? Me? No, never!'

'Good.'

'Yes.'

'Glad that's settled.'

'Yes. So, fake date to make them be quiet?'

Clara thought about that for a moment. 'Wouldn't hurt, I suppose.'

They went back into the flat and told the Ponds they would come.

* * *

**Sorry, was unsure how to end this. I'm not terribly happy with it. Reviews? I'll be doing another soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**After that special, I was really very beyond unsure I could continue with this fic. But I have to do it, guys. We fanfic writers gotta be the ones to keep him alive, eh? So even though I am really not in the mood for light-hearted AU, I'm going to write it if it kills me because it's what I need. **

* * *

'Yes!' Clara shouted into her mobile. 'I am almost ready. No, I'm not ready now!' She sat on the floor, wrestling her tights on.

'But Clara you said you were almost ready twenty minutes ago! The Ponds are going to be waiting for us!'

Why were these shoes so hard to get on? 'Well, your calling me every few minutes hasn't been very helpful!'

'Sorry, I just...I'm bored.'

'Well entertain yourself!' Her hair! She hadn't done her hair. She ran over to the mirror and started messing with it. It was all full of static - that would never do. 'It's not a girlfriend's job to keep you entertained all day long, and even if it was, I'm only your pretend girlfriend!' She ran into the bathroom to see what could be done. Oh, and she still had to do her make-up. She'd almost forgotten that.

'Sorry, sorry. I'll come round and pick you up in five minutes, pretend girlfriend. And you'd better be ready.'

'Why're oo cmin t' pck mm up?' Talking whilst putting on lipstick was not to be recommended. 'You're next door!'

'It just seems like a boyfriend thing to do.'

'Fine! See you in five minutes.'

'See you then - be ready!'

'I will!' She hung up the phone and flung it aside.

* * *

When he knocked, she was sitting by the door, all ready to go. She took her time about getting up to answer it, not wanting to look too eager to go on this pretend date.

'You _are_ ready!'

'Told you I would be.' She slung her satchel over her shoulder. 'Ponds ready?'

'Let's pop over next door and see. How much you wanna bet they'll be late?'

'Quite a lot. No point in betting though; we both _know_ they'll be late.'

Sure enough, when the Doctor knocked on the door, Rory opened the door only partway. His shirt was unbuttoned and he was only wearing one shoe. He held a sock in his hand that did not match the one on his foot. 'Uh...we'll be a while. Why don't you two head to the cinema and we'll meet you.'

'Rory!' Amy's voice came from somewhere within, 'Where'd you put my hairbrush after you used it?'

He rolled his eyes. 'I never used your hairbrush!'

'Yes you did! I saw you using it the other day!'

He sighed. 'Like I said, just go ahead and go to the cinema without us. We'll be there soon.'

The Doctor wanted to take his car, but Clara suggested they take her motorbike instead.

'More fun,' she said. 'If you want, I'll let you drive it. That is, if you know how?'

'Of course I know how!' He hopped on and patted the spot behind him for her to get on too. She wrapped her arms securely around his waist. 'All ready?'

'Yep!'

'Okay.' He just sat there.

'Okay?'

'Okay.'

'Do you actually know how to ride a motorbike?'

'Do I know how to ride a motorbike! Really, Clara!'

'Well, it's just...you're hesitating.'

'It's dark.'

'So?'

'I've...never ridden one in the dark.'

'It's not a big deal! Look, it has a light on it.'

'I know but...Can we please take my car?'

'Fine.' She climbed off and walked towards his car. 'You're not a very fun date!'

'I don't care! I'm not even real, remember?'

'Well neither am I!'

* * *

The Doctor nearly bought tickets for a children's film. He told Clara it was an accident, but she'd seen him eyeing the posters.

'You'd rather see that children's film, wouldn't you?' She asked him as they waited near the entrance for the Ponds. They still had a while before the film started.

He laughed like that was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard of.

'You do though! I can tell!'

'It's just...this film looks a bit...scary.'

'Aww come on! Scary films are the best!'

'If you say so...'

'Look! It's Amy and Rory!' Clara waved to them and the Doctor waved too. They were just in time.

* * *

About half-way through the film, at a really suspenseful part, Clara noticed that the Doctor was clinging very tightly to her arm. She tried to extricate it from his grasp because it kind of hurt, but he only held more tightly.

'Doctor!' she hissed. 'Let go!'

'What?' He said it aloud, and was promptly shushed. He covered his mouth, uncovered it, and whispered, 'What?'

'You've got my arm!'

'Yes, nice arm.'

'Could you maybe let go?'

'Sorry!' He let go and sat with his hands in his lap. But a few minutes later, something jumped out. Most everyone gasped, and a few screamed, and the Doctor grabbed Clara's hand and crushed the life out of it.

She threw a piece of popcorn at him and it hit him in the chin.

'Oi!' He rubbed his chin and stared at her in disbelief.

'Let go of my hand!' she whispered through her teeth.

He looked down at his hand, tightly gripping hers, as if he hadn't seen it before. 'Sorry!'

'It's fine.'

They continued watching the film. The Doctor ran out of popcorn and noticed that Clara had only eaten a tiny bit of hers. He couldn't resist the temptation - after all, she was probably just going to let it go to waste anyway. That would be a shame. His hand crept stealthily over to her bag of popcorn and took a handful.

She gasped and smacked his hand, but too late. He happily munched the stolen snack.

'Keep your hands to yourself!' she whispered.

'Couldn't let good popcorn go to waste!' His whisper was much louder than hers, in fact, it was barely below normal speaking level.

'I wasn't letting it go to waste, I was eating it!'

'No you weren't, you were just sitting there.'

'I was eating it slowly so that I have plenty for the whole film!'

He reached over and took another handful.

'Stop that!' She accidentally said it out loud. She covered her mouth. Several people looked at the couple disapprovingly. 'Sorry,' she whispered to them.

He was happily munching away.

'No more, okay?'

He looked her in the eyes and reached over for another handful, but this time, she was ready. She slapped his hand before he made it to the popcorn, hard.

'Ow!' he yelped.

'Shhhhhhhhhhhh!' said most of the people in the place.

'I said no more!' Clara whispered.

'But I want more! Please?'

'No. It's mine.' She looked straight at him as she put a handful in her mouth.

'At least don't eat it in front of me like that! It's rude!'

She giggled and threw a piece at his chin a second time.

'Stop it!'

'Your chin makes a big target.'

'No it doesn't!'

She threw another piece at it. 'Yes it does.'

'Will you two just kiss already so the rest of us can enjoy the film!' called someone from behind them.

Both of their eyes widened, both went bright red, and both quickly turned in their seats to face the screen, sitting unnaturally straight and not daring to move an inch or look at each other. Clara handed him her bag of popcorn without looking at him or saying anything. She didn't feel like having any more.

He handed it back.

She shoved it back into his lap.

He dropped it into her lap.

Amy reached over and confiscated it.

They watched the rest of the film in silence.

* * *

After the film, they still couldn't look at each other.

'It's still pretty early in the evening,' Amy said. 'We could do something else now.'

'Oh no, I really need to get home,' Clara said.

The Doctor nodded. 'Me too. Stuff I gotta do, you know.'

'Oh come on, don't be so boring you two!'

'I'm fine with boring,' the Doctor said. He turned to Clara. 'Are you fine with boring?'

Clara nodded. 'I'm great with boring. Boring's...great.'

'Better get Clara home then,' the Doctor said. 'Come on, Clara.'

'Bye, thanks for a lovely evening,' she said to the Ponds, before following the Doctor out to his car.

They drove in a very awkward silence.

'Personally,' the Doctor said, after a while, 'I think it would have been a lot more distracting if we _had_ kissed during the film. I don't know why that person said that.'

Clara laughed, glad that he had broken the tension.

'We really should have kissed, just to show 'em,' he said. Then his eyes widened. 'I didn't mean...'

'I know.'

'I wasn't suggesting that we actually -'

'I understand, I do.'

'Good. I'm glad. Because I'd never kiss you.'

'Well that's good because I wouldn't kiss you either.'

'Wonderful.'

'Brilliant.'

'Spectacular!'

He stopped the car at the flats. 'Well, here we are, then.'

'Here we are indeed.'

He got out and ran around the car to open her door for her. She smiled. 'Regular gentleman, you are.'

'I try to be.' He held out his hand to help her out.

They stood there for a moment, outside of their flats.

'Well, goodnight, Doctor.'

'Goodnight, Clara!'

She started to walk away, and then she remembered something and turned. 'The dinner party is next weekend! After that, you won't be my fake boyfriend any more.'

He nodded. 'Bet you'll be glad to be rid of me!'

'Well, not rid of you. I still live next door to you.'

'That's true.'

'You're...a nice neighbour.'

'You too. Goodnight Clara!'

'Goodnight.'

* * *

**Rubbish place to end it. Sorry. Reviews?**


	6. Chapter 6

**So hard to keep writing this...I gotta do it though. **

* * *

As far as boyfriends went, the Doctor was the best boyfriend Clara had had so far. Of course, she kept reminding herself, he wasn't _really_ her boyfriend. She had a trick - don't fall in love. She soon found herself having to remember the trick several times a day.

She couldn't tell whether the Doctor was having the same problem. He still spent a lot of time at her flat, but other than that he acted the same as he had before.

* * *

The night of the dinner party, Clara was distraught. She'd gotten ready early and was pretty pleased with herself, watching telly and knowing she could relax until it was time to go. But then she remembered that she was supposed to bring something. She only had fifteen minutes to figure something out.

She grabbed her phone and automatically rang the Doctor.

'Hello!'

'I need you!'

'What for?'

'I forgot I was supposed to bring something to the dinner party! I don't know what to do! We've got to leave in fifteen minutes!'

'Look, it's okay, just calm down. I'm going to come pick you up, we'll go to a supermarket and find something lovely, take it back to your flat and make it look like you made it and it's going to impress your aunt. Okay?'

She took a deep breath. 'Okay. But seriously, I can just meet you by your car.'

* * *

They returned to Clara's flat with a chocolate cake.

'Okay, first things first.' The Doctor put the cake on a platter. Then, he rummaged in drawers until he found a butter knife and started scraping off the icing.

'What are you doing that for?!'

'You don't expect anyone to believe you're this good at icing cakes?'

'I could ice a cake like that if I wanted to.'

He handed her the bowl that he had scraped the icing into. 'Okay, let's see.'

'Now?'

'We don't have a lot of time so...yes. Now.'

She frowned and started icing the cake. It didn't look as good as the bakery had made it look, but it was good enough, she thought anyway.

* * *

'So, everyone," Clara said, "this is the Doctor, my boyfriend.'

The Doctor smacked her bum and she giggled nervously, silently swearing to kill him later, but everyone else just stared.

After an awkward moment, they all introduced themselves and made comments about how he wasn't bad looking, better than her last one, and asked some very awkward questions. There was no shyness in Clara's family.

They sat down next to each other and started eating. Halfway through the meal, Clara leaned over to the Doctor and whispered, 'Should we break up now or over cake?'

'Over cake.'

That's when Clara realised they hadn't yet decided just how they would break up. 'Why are we breaking up again? I mean what's the story?'

He shrugged. 'I left all that to you!'

Clara had an idea. She texted Amy under the table to call the Doctor in about fifteen minutes.

'Okay,' Clara whispered to the Doctor. 'Amy's going to call you and you're going to pretend she's your girlfriend.'

'She's a married woman!' he whispered.

'But no one knows that. And it doesn't matter. Even if they did know that it'd just make it worse, which is good. You pretend to have a conversation with her. A private one, but loud enough that we can hear. Tell her you'll meet her later. Then I'll overhear you and -'

'Look how sweet!' one of Clara's aunts interrupted. 'They're whispering to each other.'

Clara forced on a smile and continued, 'I'll storm over to you and we'll have a row and they'll overhear it.'

'But then I'll look like a terrible person who's cheating on you!'

'Which is why we're breaking up.'

'But I would never do that to you!'

'Think of it as acting.'

'I don't like this plan.'

'Well, you're part of it whether you like it or not.'

'Fine. I'll go along with it.'

'Thank you.'

They continued with dinner. Everyone loved the cake, and Clara silently thanked the Doctor for having saved her on that one. And then his phone rang.

'I'll be right back.' He stood up and walked out of the dining room and into the front hall.

Clara listened intently, but she couldn't hear anything the Doctor was saying. Just as she was about to march in there anyway, he came sauntering back in.

'Just my friends, Rory and Amy, checking up on me. Guess they don't trust me to behave myself at a family dinner.' He gave Clara a kiss on the temple as he sat down amidst laughter. He put his arm around her. 'They don't realise I have Clara to look after me now.'

Everyone thought that was just the sweetest thing ever.

Clara smiled sweetly at him, but she was seething.

Everyone ended up loving the Doctor by the end of the evening, even the most disagreeable members of the family. Clara had a lot of people tell her that he was the one, to definitely keep him, and that they expected wedding invitations soon. Clara thought her face would crack if she had to keep her fake smile on for much longer.

As soon as she and the Doctor were out of there, she yelled at him. 'What was that!?'

'That was me protecting my reputation. And look! We had a lovely evening.'

'But you're still my boyfriend!'

'Well how about we break up now then? Consider yourself broken up with for wanting to make me look bad like that.' He went over to his car and climbed in, slamming the door.

Clara climbed into the car as well, slamming her door equally hard. 'Oh no you don't! I'm breaking up with you!'

'No, I'm going to break up with you because you were going to make me look like a terrible person in front of your entire family!'

'I'm breaking up with you because you lied to me! You said you'd go along with it and you didn't!'

'Look, it doesn't matter who breaks up with who since we were never really a couple. But for the record, I'm breaking up with you.' He started driving.

'No! The plan was for me to break up with you.'

'Change of plans.'

'Oh you are just...I would rather walk home than be in this car with you right now!'

He pulled over. 'Get out then.'

'I will!'

'Okay.'

She glared at him and opened the door. 'I'm really going to do it. You're going to send me walking all on my own.'

'Okay.'

'Bye.' She climbed out of the car and started walking, watching as he drove off.

She would have been fine if it hadn't started to rain. She didn't have an umbrella and her jacket had no hood. She quickened her steps, shivering. She kept walking as cars drove past, ignoring everything but getting home. She was so cold.

A car pulled up beside her and she quickened her pace, because it was dark and she was afraid it might be some creep. But she heard John's voice say, 'Clara?'

She turned and ran to his car and jumped into the passenger seat. He said nothing, but he gave her a shy smile before he started driving.

'No matter how impossible you are,' he said, 'I couldn't let you walk home when it's wet and dark.'

'Just so we're clear, I still hate you, I just hate the cold even more,' Clara informed him.

He nodded. 'I'm okay with that. That means I'm not the top of the list of the things you hate.'

'Nah, you're near the bottom. Speaking of which, remind me to kill you for smacking mine in front of my family.'

'But that's what boyfriends do, isn't it?'

'Um...no.'

'Oh. I should have done that reading I meant to do.'

'Yeah. You really should have.'

They were nearing the flats. 'Listen, Clara, I was wondering...if you wanted to be my proper girlfriend...'

'No.' It came out too quickly. She'd wanted to say something gentle; just tell him she just wasn't ready, but thank him for liking her that way. But it slipped out like that before she could stop it.

They had reached the flats and he parked the car and sat there for a moment. 'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'Silly to ask.'

'No, it wasn't, I -'

'It was.' He got out of the car and hurried into his flat, leaving Clara in the running car with the keys still in the ignition. She pulled them out, locked the car, and went to give them back.

He wouldn't answer the door. She went back to her flat and tried ringing him, but that didn't work either. She went next door and gave Amy the keys, not stopping to explain, just asking her to give them to him. Then she hurried back into her flat and slammed the door. She was so furious with him for ruining the friendship they'd just begun. But she was even more furious with herself for letting it be ruined.

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**Wow I hate that chapter, which is why I didn't post it yesterday. I don't know, I'll got ahead and post it and see what happens.**


	7. Chapter 7

**For those of you waiting on an update for my other fic, it's coming ("Any moment now, he's a-coming" nonononononono feels!) I just am finding it hard enough to write fluff right now so writing something sad doesn't sound like a great idea. Then again, this isn't fluffy either right now dang it.**

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The Doctor did not come to Clara's house for breakfast the next morning.

She didn't know why she thought he would do. She just set out his plate like normal, made three slices of toast - one for her and two for him. She set out two mugs and filled one with tea for him and one with coffee for her.

But he didn't show up. Of course he didn't show up. What had she been thinking? Still, she called him, knowing he wouldn't answer. She left him a message.

'Hi, this is Clara. I hope you're doing okay. You didn't come to breakfast today but I just wanted you to know I had food ready for you. You're always welcome to come. If you still want. So...call me later, let me know what needs doing with the flats. Got to go to work now. Bye.'

She wasn't herself that day. She functioned like a robot and hardly knew what happened between the time she walked into her classroom and the time she left it and got on her motorbike to go back to the flats. When she got there, she called him. He actually answered.

'Hello.' He sounded like he hadn't slept at all. He probably hadn't.

'Hey Doctor, it's me, Clara.'

'I know.'

'Yeah. Guess you do.'

There was a silence.

'Something you need?' he asked abruptly.

'Oh. Yeah. I was just going to ask if you needed any help with the flats today? We're working in 5 right? You said you wanted my help with the painting.'

'I did that while you were at school.'

'Oh.'

'If that's all, I'm kind of busy.'

'Doing what? You don't even do anything all day!' She hadn't exactly meant to say that.

There was a long, cold silence at the other end.

'Goodbye Clara.'

'Doctor, wait -'

He hung up.

Clara groaned in frustration at herself and him. She didn't know what to do, so she called Amy.

'Hello?'

'Amy! Can you come over? I need to talk to someone.'

'Sure. I'll be right there. Is it about the Doctor?'

'Yes.'

'How did I know? I'm coming right away!'

Clara sighed and waited impatiently for Amy to come, putting the kettle on in the meantime. Amy knocked on the door moments later and the two sat down on the sofa.

'Okay, I'm here. Now tell me everything.'

Clara sighed. 'He asked me to be his girlfriend.'

Amy raised a brow. 'I thought you two were already dating.'

'Shut up, you knew that was a lie to get you to leave us alone!'

'Yeah, okay. I may have suspected that.'

'Anyway, after the dinner party, he wanted me to be his proper girlfriend.'

'That's great news!'

'I said no.'

'Oh.'

'And now he won't even hardly speak to me.'

'Why would you say no?'

'I just wasn't ready! But I said it a bit more abruptly than I meant to and I think he took it pretty hard. He didn't come to breakfast this morning. That's the first time he's missed it.'

'What are you going to do?'

'I don't know. Apologise? I don't know if he'd accept it.'

'Clara, you two have to be together. I've known that for the longest time. You two were made for each other, and there's no use denying it.'

Clara blushed. 'That's silly.'

'No it's not, it's true. So go over to his flat, knock on his door, and apologise.'

'But -'

'Go.'

Clara stood up sulkily and left the flat, Amy leaving behind her to go back to her own. She waved goodbye to Amy, who smiled encouragement before disappearing into her flat. Then Clara took a deep breath and knocked on his door.

He opened it slowly.

She stood there with her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. 'Mind if I come in?'

He shrugged and held the door open for her, and she walked in past him. 'Bit of a mess,' he told her.

Clara noticed that he hadn't done much unpacking and rearranging yet. He'd been busy with the other flats of course. 'I could help you unpack sometime if you like,' she said.

'Fine. That would be fine.'

'Listen, what I said, I didn't mean that I don't like you. I just don't want things to move so quickly. Can we just be friends for now?'

'Of course, Clara.'

She suddenly thought, why not, and held out her arms. 'C'mere you!'

He looked a bit surprised, but he came forward and they hugged.

'I am privileged to have you as a friend, Clara Oswald,' he said as he let go of her.

'Same,' she said.

'Breakfast at yours tomorrow?'

'As always!'

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**Abrupt ending, but hey, I'm posting something!**


End file.
